One of the many frustrations of India is bad advice. Our train from Lucknow to Varanasi is late and we're asking around to find out if we're at the right platform, how late it might be, etc. Then some man grabs us by the arm and shouts, "Your train! Your train! Track four! It is leaving! Run!"
So we run. Up the stairs, across the ramp, lugging our bags. And it is not our train of course. We trudge irritated back. This always happens to us. Someone decides what it is we want or need and tells us what to do and they are wrong. I'm not sure what that's all about. They seem to want to help, but they just don't know what they are talking about. It can make you paranoid, because we HAVE to ask for advice, but after getting so much incorrect information (and from police and the people at the information booths too) you start to doubt everything you hear. My theory: I think this is a culture based on talking a LOT and gathering a lot of strong opinions. Our rickshaw drivers often stop and go into a shop to find out where to go. At train stations I see clusters of people gesturing and pointing in different directions. I think you are supposed to loudly voice your opinion and whoever is nearby voices theirs and so and so on until some semblance of consensus is reached.
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